3 Day Rome Itinierary: What to Do, See, and Eat

Admittedly, I traveled to Italy about a year and a half ago, but I still get about 5-6 emails/DMs a year asking where we went and stayed while on the whirlwind, romantic Italian vacation. I use the words “romantic” and “whirlwind” because I ended up going with Rich to Italy just six weeks after our first date. Since I was working for myself at the time, I had the flexibility to go and he was already traveling alone. It ended up being totally spur-of-the-moment and one of the best things I've ever done. (P.S. – We're now engaged!) My BFF Jackie was actually just in Rome, I sent her my two years old itinerary and she loved it and that gave me the firm kick in the ass needed to get the itinerary up on the site for all to use.

Aside from a college choir tour in Japan, and a trip to the Bahamas with my parents in high school, I'd never really traveled internationally without a large group and I'd never been to Europe. All of the excitement of doing something new with a person I was falling in love with made the trip so incredibly sweet and special; one of those times in my life I'll always remember.

Because I was so amped for this trip, I worked hard on our itinerary and we had a truly great time. Somehow, even on our first trip together we struck a great balance between activities and free time. Below is how our 3-day Rome itinerary turned out.

3 Day Rome Itinerary: What to Do, See, and Eat

Technically, with the way our travel schedule worked out – the itinerary below is 3.5 days, but the actual activities all fell within three full days, which is absolutely do-able.

[DAY .5 – Arrival in Rome]

Our flight was delayed three hours, so most of our morning and afternoon activities were canceled and moved to other days. Once we (finally) got into Rome and settled into the hotel (We stayed at Hotel Artemide and had the best experience) there wasn't much time left in the day, so we ended up just setting out on foot and exploring our surroundings. We did check out the Pantheon (in Piazza della Rotonda), The Trevi Fountain, and went to Piazza Farnese for dinner (the restaurant there – which ended up being one of our best meals on the whole trip – Ristorante Campo di Fiore).

We also had time for pre and post dinner gelato and a quick happy hour cocktail at the bar on the roof of our hotel. I've never felt more “Italian” than sitting up there drinking wine mid-day with my bae.

So you see, even though our plans were completely squashed due to plane delay, the free time led to some amazing experience and taught me an important less – don't overstuff your days!

[DAY 1 – Vatican City]

Our first full day in Rome we woke up early, did breakfast in the hotel, and then made the trek from our hotel in the center of Rome over to Vatican City. It was a long walk, but nice to see the sights on foot.

What to See in Vatican City: The Vatican, St. Peter’s Basilica, The Sistine Chapel, Top of the Basilica

We had a fantastic tour and tour guide for this portion, and you can book the same one here. She took us all over the Basilica and even underneath into the crypts and she was full of great information and it was nice to skip the line. Cannot recommend the company more. We also booked this tour to go up to the top of the basilica, but they wouldn’t let us change the date from when we originally missed it the day before. This is probably what I am saddest that we missed!

Evening: Castel Sant’ Angelo (Self-Guided Tour throughout) Castel Sant’Angelo is near St. Peter’s so we did this on our way back to the hotel.

[DAY 2 – Ancient Rome]

What to See in “Ancient Rome”: The Imperial Fori, Roman Forum, Palatine Hill, Arch of Constantine, The Colosseum

What We Didn’t Get to See: We saw Domus Aurea but didn’t get to go inside (book ahead if you want to do this!)

In the evening we visited Piazza del Campigdolio and went up to the top of The Roman National Museum to take in spectacular views of the city and capture dreamy photographs. Later on, we trekked all the way across the city to have spaghetti carbonara at Roscioli. (Do them both, it's amazing.)

[DAY 3 –The Great Churches of Rome + Some Final Sights]

With our time in Rome waning, (we were set to go to Florence for two days and then come back for a half day before our flight) we decided to get out on foot and explore the city on our last full day. There are so many beautiful churches in Rome that are open to the public, so that's what we decided to do. Here's what we saw on our own:

Morning/Afternoon

The Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore

The Church of San Giovanni in Laterano

The Basilica of San Clemente

Santa Maria in Trastevere

Once that was over, we wandered over to Giolitti for Gelato. If there is one thing you must do early on in your trip is go to Giolitti. It really is the best gelato in the city. I'm sad we did this on the last day because then we couldn't go back!!

Evening

Our final “Activity” was a Segway tour of all the sights of Italy at night. I thought it would be fun to catch what we'd already seen by night, and this kicked off our now infamous tradition of always doing a Segway tour when out on vacation. (We even own a personal Segway now that if you catch my instagram stories, I ride to and from work every day.) It was such a fun, low-stress way to see the city. I hadn't designed it that way, but it was such a great cap to the entire experience.

On the Segway we saw all the ‘big” sites– The Colosseum, St. Peter's, The Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain, and Castel St. Angelo all lit up at night! Click here to see the tour we booked

There you have it – a (quick-and-dirty) 3 day Rome itinerary that covers all of the basic touristy “must-dos.” I'm always jealous of anyone who tells me they're going to Rome on vacation. There really is nothing like experiencing Rome for the first time, and Italy itself is incredible. Since the country was basically 8 different city-states up until its unification in the 1800's, Rome is a completely different “flavor” from the other cities, so I hope to go back and experience those as well someday soon!

Rome is Rome and if is called the Eternal city there is a good reason, however this tips are perfect for a weekend and yes that ice cream is delicious but I suggest to try also to visit Garbatella and go to Romeow bistrot:P

Yes to Giolitti! I lived/studied in Rome for a semester in college, and that was seriously the best gelato I tried (literally ate gelato every day so I can attest to this). So much to see in Rome but it sounds like you saw a ton in your few days there!